General Revenue Fund collections in November totaled $446.0 million, which is $20.8 million, or 4.9%, above the monthly estimate. This is $21.1 million, or 4.5%, below collections in November of 2019. Total GRF collections through the first five months of fiscal year 2021 are $2.8 billion, which is $121.8 million, or 4.6%, above the estimate and $236.9 million, or 9.4%, above prior year collections for the same period.
Despite gross production tax collections continuing to lag, the state’s overall collections during the first half of fiscal year 2021 have been strong. This is largely due to income tax collections that have consistently performed above initial estimates.
“It’s good to see the year-to-date collections are remaining above original estimates, in part due to income tax collections,” said OMES Executive Director Steven Harpe. “However, moving into the second half of the fiscal year, we could start seeing a decrease in these numbers. We will have a better picture of what is anticipated after the Board of Equalization updates its fiscal year 2021 projections.”
Major tax categories in November contributed the following amounts to the GRF:
- Total income tax collections of $186.8 million were $57.3 million, or 44.3%, above the estimate and $12.4 million, or 7.1%, above the prior year.
Individual income tax collections of $184.5 million were $55.1 million, or 42.5%, above the estimate and $10.1 million, or 5.8%, above the prior year.
Corporate income tax were $2.3 million. Corporate income taxes did not contribute to November collections in the prior year. - Sales tax collections of $170.6 million were $5.3 million, or 3.0%, below the estimate and $13.4 million, or 8.5%, above the prior year.
- Gross production tax collections of $11.4 million were $33.2 million, or 74.4%, below the estimate and $46.5 million, or 80.4%, below the prior year.
Natural Gas collections of $11.3 million were $6.7 million, or 37.2%, below the estimate and $4.3 million, or 27.7%, below the prior year.
Oil collections of $54,000 were $26.5 million, or 99.8%, below the estimate and $42.2 million, or 99.9%, below the prior year. - Motor vehicle tax collections of $2.6 million were $0.9 million, or 56.3%, above the estimate and $0.1 million, or 6.1%, above the prior year.
- Other revenue collections of $74.7 million were $1.0 million, or 1.4%, above the estimate and $0.5 million, or 0.6%, below the prior year.
As state government’s main operating fund, the GRF is the key indicator of state government’s fiscal status and the predominant funding source for the annual appropriated state budget. GRF collections are revenues that remain for the appropriated state budget after rebates, refunds, other mandatory apportionments and after sales and use taxes are remitted back to municipalities. In contrast, gross collections, reported by the State Treasurer, are all revenues remitted to the Oklahoma Tax Commission.
Revenue tables can be viewed on the OMES website: https://omes.ok.gov/pages/november-2020-financial-data-tables
Editor’s Note: This story was provided by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services with minor edits for style.
